


Old Fashioned

by enbyred



Series: Pray for the Wicked [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 05:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17843237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyred/pseuds/enbyred
Summary: Marinette and Alya spend time together for the first time in a while. It’s nice to rekindle friendship, but this time, is there something more there?





	Old Fashioned

**Author's Note:**

> Based off Panic! at the Disco's [Old Fashioned](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCW3PrLCIs)

"I'm so glad you suggested we do this," Marinette sighed, sinking into the couch. Feet on Alya's coffee table, she took a sip of her drink and grinned at her old friend.

"Honestly, I'm just lucky that you still have the same number."

It had been well over a year since they last saw each other. Their hangouts had been getting less and less frequent since the moment they started attending university. They'd both gone their own ways, and their texting had slowed to nearly a halt, mostly consisting of relevant memes. Alya had finally texted Marinette and decided they should spend some time together, if not because they remained best friends, they deserved time to catch up with an old friend. It was near impossible to reproduce a friendship where they bond over superheroism and aggressively wingman for each other.

"How's Adrien been?" Alya asked, setting a plate of cookies down on the coffee table.

Marinette snorted and snatched a cookie. "That's long gone. Don't get me wrong, Adrien's still one of the sweetest guys I've ever met, but we want different things. And by 'different things,' I mean that Adrien kept trying to talk me out of fashion because being around a designer reminded him of his father. He wanted me to get a teaching degree and work with him in a high school. Can you imagine me teaching? No thanks."

Shrugging, Alya replied, "I mean, you give off a good elementary teacher vibe, but I know that's not your cup of tea. But yeah, that's not fair. Anyone who doesn't support you and your dreams isn't worth your time."

"Exactly." She set her drink down and laid her head down in Alya's lap. "Let's not talk about boys, I just wanna hang out with you without thinking about them. What've you been doing for work? I know you were bouncing around between jobs for a while."

"Mm..." Alya ran her fingers through Marinette's short hair. "Lots of things. Being a reporter is...okay, but I don't get to report on superheroes, so that sucks. I liked writing about Ladybug. But anyway, I'm writing for a TV show. I don't think anyone's caught on yet that I'm trying to turn the main character into Ladybug."

Marinette giggled. "The crush never went away, did it?"

Shaking her head, Alya replied, "Not even close. The last girl I went out with said that she couldn't be with someone who's hung up on someone else, and I told her that was completely valid. Seriously, part of me wishes for a new villain so Ladybug will be back in real superhero action instead of stopping petty crime. Then I could be, like...a Ladybug specialist. Informant on everything Ladybug. Selfish of me to want a new villain." She shook her head and took a sip of her drink.

Marinette took a moment to let Alya's words sink in. She and Chat Noir had talked about how much they missed the old days, the rush of fighting a real villain. The close calls of nearly getting their miraculous taken, sacrificing themselves for one another, the necessary split-second decisions that could make or break the fight. Catching Hawkmoth was all Marinette had wanted, and now that she had caught a supervillain, she wanted that satisfaction again. But her boredom and the stupid things she wanted weren't as important as the safety of Paris.

"I get that," was all she could sigh, glancing around the room instead of at Alya. "It's like Paris had a superhero phase while growing up, and while it's great that Hawkmoth's gone, we miss that phase."

"It's not a _p_ _ hase _ , Marinette," Alya said so seriously that Marinette's eyes snapped back to her. "It's who I really am."

Bursting into giggles again, Marinette had to sit up for fear that she would end up choking on her own laughter. "Good! Somebody's gotta keep that spirit alive! Hang on, I gotta go use the bathroom." She stood on wobbly feet and scampered off to Alya's bathroom, peeking inside her jacket to talk with Tikki.

"I'm glad you're able to reconnect with Alya," Tikki commented with a smile.

"I want to tell her who I am," Marinette whispered. "Hawkmoth is long gone, Adrien and I only revealed to each other. Do you think it's a good idea? Is it a good time?"

Grinning wider, Tikki replied, "As good a time as any. Go get her, Marinette!"

Confidence restored, Marinette flushed the toilet and ran the faucet for a few moments before leaving the bathroom. She settled back onto the couch, leaning happily against Alya.

"Look at this." Alya wistfully held her phone out for Marinette to see. "The Ladyblog gets almost as many views for footage with petty crime as it did with supervillains. Back when all five heroes were around, there were consistent numbers of views I would see for each hero. Everybody loved Chat Noir, Carapace, and even Queen Bee, but none of the others ever got quite as popular as Ladybug." She grinned fondly at old footage of Ladybug facing the Boyscout, a later Akuma victim who appeared a few months before the final showdown.

Shifting to see the blog better, Marinette speculated, "I always noticed that you never had much Rena Rouge content on the Ladyblog. Lots of love for the other heroes. Why is that?"

Alya shrugged. "She wasn't very dynamic, I guess? If you ask me, Rena Rouge always tried too hard to fit into a 'superhero box.' Ruined the vibe." She kept scrolling as though she truly was indifferent to the topic. Marinette had taught her well.

She considered for a few seconds, building up her courage before saying, "You know that it's okay to reveal now, right?"

Surprised, Alya turned and faced Marinette, wide-eyed. She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but only a few confused sounds escaped her.

With a smile, Marinette continued, "You don't have to worry about me knowing your identity. I was the one who handed you that miraculous, after all."

Alya's brown eyes grew wider and her jaw dropped open. "You - you're...? Wait, I..." She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and stared at the coffee table, whispering, "I was right."

"You were  _ right _ ?" Marinette screeched, then lowered her voice. "Look, I knew you suspected me because of the history book thing with the Pharaoh, but I didn't know you figured it out!"

"It was all just a theory!" Alya navigated through her phone and pulled up a document titled  _ Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Ladybug #Confirmed _ . "Look, I wrote down all the evidence I had on you - the pigtails, the history book, the fact that you happened to be the only person never around when Ladybug was, the whole Clara Nightingale thing when you didn't wanna wear the mask, I recorded all of this, and evidence that Adrien was Chat Noir, I'm still convinced that he is."

Falling back into the couch laughing, Marinette nodded. "He is. And I am. You were right." Stroking Alya's arm gently, she said, "And I chose the most trustworthy person I could think of to be my Rena Rouge."

Alya flushed a deep shade of red and covered her cheeks with her hands, curling up in the corner of the couch. Her voice muffled, she said something indecipherable about being honored.

"So." Marinette shifted closer and smirked, though her heart was hammering in her chest. Now was the hard part. "The crush never went away?"

Hands moving up to cover her eyes behind her glasses, Alya shook her head. "Oh my gosh, it was so bad in high school, I had the biggest crush on you, not just because I thought you were Ladybug, but because you're  _ you _ , and that's  _ great, _  and oh hell, I'm so sorry, I'm rambling, this is ridiculous."

Grinning, Marinette coaxed Alya's hands away from her face and pulled her out of the corner. "Does it help to know that Adrien was the one who pointed out that I'm in love with you? Just after the last time we hung out, he whined that I wouldn't stop talking about you, and said that if I'm so in love with you, I should do something about it. So, Alya, I'm doing something about it."

She reached a hand up and brushed her fingers against Alya's cheek, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Slowly, silently asking permission, Marinette leaned in, and to her delight, Alya met her halfway. Their lips met softly, as though testing the waters, though both of them knew that it was all they wanted to do. Marinette's heart was soaring, and she could feel Alya grinning through the kiss.

When they parted, they gazed happily at each other, butterflies in their stomachs, and thank goodness not the villainizing kind.

"One of us should have done that years ago," Alya whispered.

Marinette nodded. "Guess we'll have to make up for lost time." She kissed Alya again, and it was just as wonderful as the first.


End file.
